I'm not quite getting it. Handspring, maker of the popular Visor PDA (a Palm compatible with the proprietary Springboard expansion slot) has announced a cellphone springboard plug in module. This will turn your Visor PDA into a cell phone. (Other modules give you more memory, turn your Visor into an MP3 player, and I think there is a camera module.) The cellphone module costs $300. Already that's more than almost any cellphone, and that's not even counting the original cost of the Visor. Plus, if your phone is your PDA, you can't really look up a number, or open your calendar, while you're talking to someone on the phone. I guess you could say it saves space, but the module is only marginally smaller than today's smallest cellphones (like the startac or the new flip open samsung/sprint/qualcomm phone.) I can't think of one reason why you would want this over a regular cell phone; worse, I can think of several why you wouldn't. Who's going to buy this thing? And as long as I'm complaining, I'll throw in a little dig at the proprietary expansion slots that Handspring and Sony (memorystick) keep trying to peddle. Don't trust them. Don't buy it. Why don't they just use compact flash, or PCMCIA? (Answer: because they want you to be locked into their products instead of trying to provide the best product to their consumers.)
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- jim 9-21-2000 7:19 pm